Thursday, September 24, 2009

We hear you Asher Roth, "We all Love College," but do we really want to stay here for six years? Okay yes most of us do...but do we really have the money to pay for two more years than we expected?

The general consensus seems to be that we all love college, but the grind of homework, exams, and quizzes up until grade 16 seems extreme, can we make it all the way to grade 20? When I picked up today's State News and saw the front page article and read that six years to graduate was becoming the norm among previously four year universities, I quickly examined my current schedule making sure I was well on my way to a four year stint in college.

With massive the amount of university requirements, graduating in four years is more impressive than ever. Do we really need six integrative studies classes? Whether we need them or not is highly debatable, but the reality is we are forced to take them for graduation.

Since we are forced to endure, pass, and pay for these classes that we are not choosing, it should be the university's obligation to teach us the things we need to know to be citizens of the world.That is the idea behind university requirements, fortunately for me, my prerequisites have been some of the most interesting classes with the most endearing professors, who truly love what they do and are enthusiastic about their subject area. I've been taken through eight decades of music, gained a new Vision of the Universe, and learned about the footprint I'm making on just one of the eight planets in the sky.

Clearly, for me my experience in required courses was quite pleasant, unfortunately I’ve heard horror stories from many of my friends. They have taken classes where they do more busy work than actual learning. Essentially, professors can teach whatever they want with in their realm of expertise. So with all these classes we have to take, the question I ask myself is, how is anyone leaving East Lansing without a greater understanding of environmental issues? To me it seems like this timely issue would be perfect to insert into required learning.

Monday, September 14, 2009

When you tell a friend you went for a run and their response is something along the lines of “no really what did you do this morning?”It becomes clear that going running (or any physical activity other than yoga for that matter) is as rare of as a two-dollar bill or a good thing happening after midnight.Well aware of that fact, I put on my hot pink sweatband, yellow neon t-shirt and long black yoga pants (clearly called yoga pants and not running pants for a reason) and embarked on my journey into the neighborhood for my jog attempt number one.

With the Daft Punk playing at a deafening level, I was pumped, I felt like I could run to California.Talk of triathlons and marathons seems to have been abundant around me the past few days, it seems everyone I know is training for something whether it’s a half-marathon or beating a mile time in time for soccer season, it puts my goal of jogging around the block into perspective rather quickly.

As I walk out the door, I decide to lose the sweatband and replace it with some sunglasses making me more incognito and less like the girl version of Richard Simons.It is very possible I am the healthiest person on earth, I haven’t so much as coughed in over three years, how hard can a jog around the block a few times be?Hard.I quickly remap my jogging territory since I figure I should run through the path in my neighborhood so trees will surround me and deter any of my fellow pedestrians from catching a glimpse of my jog attempt.I find the path much creepier than I remember, but in retrospect the eerie path became my ally forcing me to run faster for fear the kidnappers in my mind are chasing me but I can’t hear them gaining on me because all hear is “music’s got me feeling so free, we’re gunna celebrate, celebrate and dance so free…”Before the song ended I had made it through the path, a tell tale sign of how short my jog was.

Inhaling deeply felt like someone was punching me in the chest, still feels that way now actually.As a biker rolled by I quickly bent down pretending to tie my shoe, although I really wanted to lie on my back right there in the street for at least five hours regardless of who was passing.Fortunately, I came back to reality realizing that was not an option and made my way home.Across the street I saw a young kid driving his John Deer play tractor and seriously considered begging him for a ride.

Finally I was home and everything from my lungs, to my feet, to my On-the-Go playlist were completely exhausted.Obviously, I’m not running a marathon, or even a mile anytime soon, but as long as my legs allow I might as well use them.Although my accomplishment is humble in comparison, when I took the step onto my driveway I felt like I had just crossed the finish line in the New York Marathon.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

MSU football season has arrived and this past weekend the banks of the Red Cedar were filled with students shouting "GO GREEN!" With the environmental revolution on the rise, students are finding another reason to shout their school color.

With a new school year comes new beginnings, new classes, new home, new friends, why not new outlook on environmental issues? Might as well add another new right?

For me the new school year is a fresh beginning almost more so than the actual new year in January. So this year I made a new 'school' years resolution: be more environmentally conscientious and work on shrinking my ecological footprint.

This new endeavor of mine came from my summer ISB 202 course, with Gabe Ording. Of course I was aware of the environmental movement, how can you not be now with famous musicians including Sheryl Crow and Dave Matthews behind it? However, after this course I was genuinely shocked by some of the information I discovered.

Including, the uneven distribution of wealth. 20% of the population controls 80% of the wealth. To me that statistic was so staggering it made me want to jump on a plane fly to Africa and feed the all hungry. Why should I live such a easy life when millions of people struggle for food and water and other basic staples I take for granted? How can this be? How is the world like this?

Throughout the summer I could not stop talking about issues like this and what I learned each day in my class with my friends and family, and anyone who would listen for that matter. At that point I decided I needed to be heard. I wanted to shout GO GREEN, like I was cheering on the Spartans in the Final Four game.

On the last day of class before the final the professor asked us three profound questions:

What do you think the biggest problem in the world is?

What do you see yourself doing in 10 years?

How are they connected?

He told us that when he asked himself those very questions he said the biggest world problem was the impact we as humans have on the environment and what he saw himself doing in 10 years was teaching about this issue. Then he filled the PowerPoint screen with a picture of a pond, he explained that teaching this class was his way of being heard, and by teaching us he was tossing pebbles into the pound and he hoped each of us, as pebbles would make ripples in the pond and take what we learn out into the world.

When I ask myself those three questions I am not positive of any of the answers, but I do know human impact on the environment is depleting our resources before the earth can renew them and this is one extremely large problem in our world. I also see myself writing in the future and why not kill two birds with one stone and write as a way get my voice heard about an important and extremely timely issue. So exploring environmental journalism seems like the next logical step.